BATTLE OF THE BRANDS:

RAW vs. SMACKDOWN

FACTOR 1: CROWD

The SmackDown crowd had nothing to really cheer for until Rusev got a long overdue win! But up to that point they only had two other matches a string of bad promos. Even though I liked the SAnity stuff. Raw didn't have a 10x better show, but they definitely had more for the crowd to chew on like Ziggler getting another IC Title run, and Reigns and Lashley beating The Revival. They didn't like that one, but it didn't matter. They reacted, in boos, but they reacted and that is the important part.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 2: COMMENTARY

Raw crew did a much better job this week. Granted, they had more to actually talk about.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 3: MATCHES

I loved that gauntlet match that main evented SDLive. Good stuff all around, and I think that the right person got the win in Rusev Day. I'm also glad that the Bludgeon Brothers kept the belts since they have the most momentum and are still fairly new champs. Having them lose here wouldn't make any sense at all to me. Becky vs. Billie did nothing for me, however.

Raw saw Ziggler beat Rollins for the IC Championship in what as a surprising finish since Rollins was on the streak of a lifetime, and a career defining championship run. However, I do not like Ziggler being the one to beat him here. I'll talk about that later though. Roode and Hawkins was an obvious one. The Deleter of Worlds got a win over Slater and Rhyno along with Jinder beating Chad Gable in what I thought was an interesting match up. The Riott Squad, who I couldn't care less about, got a win, and like I mentioned above Roman and Lashley beat The Revival in what was a total crowd favorite.. Mojo picked up a W over No Way Jose and then the main event saw KO & Baron Corbin beat Finn and Braun Strowman. There is a clear winner here, and that is Monday Night Raw.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 4: PROMOS

SmackDown is not winning here, because their promos were bad. I have some serious bones to pick with some of the decisions made and the Asuka/Carmella feud is one of them. They had a bad promo, Jeff Hardy is getting weird again (which I am totally okay with), and Shinsuke still doesn't know english.. Yep. That is still going on.

I actually enjoyed Ronda coming out and just laying waste to everybody. "The Baddest Woman on the Planet" shouldn't have to talk. They did this the right way with the suspension which I'll also talk about later. KO and Braun working promos together just works. They have great chemistry on the mic which KO seems to with everybody. So, I enjoyed them out there acting ridiculous as well. I can see a future VERY entertaining tag team there. The Sasha and Bayley thing is overplayed and meaningless without a title belt involved at this point, so they used it throughout the whole show. Normally, I love it when they have a story arch throughout a whole show, but I just don't care about this anymore. The parody of Hardy and Wyatt was fan-freaking-tastic and you need to go watch it. Elias sings, and it is the same old stuff. It's still good though.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 5: STORYLINES

Let's start with Raw. I'm digging the multi-person match to decide who faces Lesnar. I just hope that it isn't Reigns again. I think they're handling Rousey perfectly. Have her say very little, the "suspension" keeps her off Extreme Rules, and sets up her chance to win at SummerSlam where she should get the belt. Ziggler winning the belt was.. Meh.. If anyone was going to take the belt off Seth I think it should've Elias. And I'm hoping that somehow he ends up with the IC Championship down the line. The KO and Braun Strowman stuff has been phenomenal over the last few weeks. I don't know who will take the belts off The Eater of Worlds, but I hope they keep them for a bit.

SmackDown.. AJ vs. Rusev is a great choice. Rusev deserves this more than anybody on SDLive, and he'll deliver. No way he wins because I think AJ and Joe headline SummerSlam, but he deserves it. I don't know how to feel about the tag team division here, but I don't know who could unseat the Bludgeon Brothers right now. I could see them holding the titles for a sneaky long time, and I'm okay with that. Shinsuke vs. Jeff Hardy is the perfect way to get some gold on Nak. He could really bring out the creativeness in Jeff and they could have an awesome match. Okay on to the not-so-good.. I wanted Carmella to win by heel ways, and she did. Ellsworth coming back was smart, and a cool way to get him back on TV. But did they have to beat her clean? I wanted a DQ or count-out.. Some sort of runaway victory. Having Asuka straight up lose is a baaaad move.

So far, I'm digging a lot of stuff. But the way they handled the Asuka-Carmella stuff gives them the L.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 6: SCHEDULING / PACING

I actually liked how Raw was paced this week. It felt like they had good flow throughout the whole show.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 7: VISUAL PRESENTATION

Rusev Day!!!! That match with AJ should be a fun one because both of these guys can GO!

WINNER: SmackDown

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Rusev gets his shot, and I love it.

POINT ADJUSTMENTS: Raw (+0 / -0) / SmackDown (+1 / -0)

THIS WEEK'S WINNER = Raw

Raw just had more going on, and they get the W 6-2. SmackDown seemed empty outside of Rusev getting a title shot. Raw is handling everything perfectly yet, and I hope they keep it up.

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